MUGEN Database:Character articles
__NOEDITSECTION__ This article covers the source character articles. For version branch-articles, see MUGEN Database:Character version articles. It is highly recommended that you use Wikia's Source Editor. If your default editor is Wikia's new Visual Editor, you can change it in under the Editing tab by using the drop-down box and selecting Wikia's classic rich-text editor (where available) or Source Editor. Click the Save button at the bottom of the screen once you're done. Note that 'source character articles' and 'main character articles' are the same thing and are often used interchangeably. The purpose of source character articles is to detail some information about the source character and provide links to the character version branch-articles, as well as links to articles about similar characters. The layout for source character articles is relatively simple, though that does mean the information on them is perhaps not as plentiful as it is on some of the other article types; regardless, this is the typical layout a main character article follows, clicking on one of the following links will make the page jump to the corresponding section in this tutorial: #Infobox ##Parameter explanations ##End result #Source text ##First paragraph ##Second paragraph ##Third paragraph (aka "In M.U.G.E.N...") #Version sections #The "See also" section #Categories Infobox The very first thing that should be placed into a source character article is the infobox, any new articles made after 24th October 2014 are required to use the new layout and thus the new layout infobox: infobox character. Unlike the original infobox character, this updated one replaces the |Downloadlink parameter with the |Old and |New parameters. When inserting a character infobox onto an article, it should be written as what it shown below, alternatively, highlighting what's shown below and copying/pasting it into an article will serve the same purpose; for the Origin parameter, make sure to write the text between the '=' sign and the double curly braces. 'Parameter explanations' The following section gives a general explanation as to what the functions are for each infobox parameter, if you are converting an old character infobox to a new character infobox, remember that merely changing the name of the infobox won't cause the contents of the Download parameter to be migrated over to the Old parameter. Note that anything described as a parameter refers to what is to the left of the '=' sign, while anything described as a function refers to what is to the right of the '=' sign. :Name -- The name that will be displayed at the top of the infobox; in most cases, this parameter function will be the same as the article's title, however, certain articles will be named as the character's name followed by the name of the series that the character originates from, due to there being multiple articles of a character with that name, in such cases, just use the character's name. :Image -- The image that will be displayed in the infobox; because the brackets normally used for images ( and ) are already integrated into the infobox's coding, it is not necessary to write them out in the parameter function. Images larger than 200px in width should be scaled down by placing 200px after the image filename, images width a width smaller than 200px must not be scaled up, very tall images need to be scaled down to a smaller sizes so they don't make the infobox unreasonably tall. If there are multiple images to display in the infobox at the same time, such as is the case here, separate the images files with and scale the images down to 135px. : |Image=File:Image1.png 200px : |Image=File:Image1.png 135px File:Image2.png 135px :Caption -- A small bit of text that describes the image. :Creator -- The name of the creator(s) that has/have created the character; make sure to write creator names exactly how they are usually written, adhering to any letter casing, accenting and punctuation quirks that the creator name has (an example being NeOaNkH), also remember to link names to their creator articles (if they have one). If more than one creator has created the character, write all names on the same line and use break tags to separate them, ordering of creator names is determined by chronological order, the creator that created the oldest version of the character is written first and the creator that created the newest version of the character is written last; if the number of creators for a particular character exceeds three, 'Various' is written instead of any creator names. : |Creator=Creator1 : |Creator=Creator1 Creator2 Creator3 : |Creator=Various :When it comes to a character collaboration (a character version created by more than one creator), either use the team name that they fall under, or if they don't have one, list all of the creator names involved with the making of that character version; the last two names are separate with '&' (even if there only two names), all other preceding names are separated with a comma, part of this carries over into naming of character version articles. : |Creator=ShinRyoga & NeOaNkH Team Z2 : |Creator=O Ilusionista, Laspacho, Akito-Sama & Slowcar48 :Old -- The branch article link to the oldest version of the character and the year it was made; the text and link are formatted as /Creator's version/ or, if the creator's name ends in an 's', /Creators' version/; if the year of which the character version was made is known, it is placed in brackets after the link, leaving a space between the link and the opening bracket. In the event that the branch article for the oldest version of the character doesn't currently exist, write the text denoting the oldest version anyway, but don't add a link or the slashes. If the same character has been created more than once by the same creator and the oldest version is one of that creator's characters, the word 'first' is added in between the creator's name and 'version', this also applies to the New parameter, albeit using second/third/fourth etc. instead of first, seeing as a first version would be the only version by that creator, thus making the use of 'first' unnecessary. :New --Functionally identical to the Old parameter, but links to the newest version of the character instead of the oldest, unless there is only one version of a character that has been made, in which case, what's used in the Old parameter is used for this parameter as well. If a new version of a character is made, this parameter will need updating so that it denotes the newest character version, only link to the branch article when said branch article has been created, though. : |Old=/PotS' version/ (2010) : |New=/PotS' version/ (2010) : |Old=/GarchompMatt's version/ (2011) : |New=/KEKUWEKKA's version/ (2013) : |Old=/Elecbyte's first version/ (1999) : |New=/Elecbyte's fourth version/ (2009) : |Old=/Daniel9999999's version/ (2013) : |New=/MattTheBiscuit's second version/ (2015) :Origin -- The source media series that the character is most known to originate from; do not note down the name of the game/episode/film etc. that the character first appeared in, only the name of the series. For characters that are original creations, use 'Original', if a character is a real person, animal, or any other object from real life, use 'N/A'. : |Origin=Street Fighter : |Origin=Dragon Ball : |Origin=My Little Pony : |Origin=Original : |Origin=N/A 'End result' The following is an example of how a finished infobox appears in the editor and on a article respectively, this one being Kung Fu Man's infobox: 200px |Caption = Unofficial artwork of Kung Fu Man |Creator = Elecbyte |Old = /Elecbyte's first version/ (1999) |New = /Elecbyte's fourth version/ (2009) |Origin = Original}} 200px |Caption = Unofficial artwork of Kung Fu Man |Creator = Elecbyte |Old = Elecbyte's first version (1999) |New = Elecbyte's fourth version (2009) |Origin = Original}} Source Text 'First paragraph' The first line of text is just introductory text, giving a brief description about the source character. It is here that you write about name, age, sex, family, what source media they're from, etc. Nothing too in-depth. Kung Fu Man (often abbreviated to KFM) is the very first M.U.G.E.N character ever made and comes pre-installed with all versions of the M.U.G.E.N engine when downloaded from Elecbyte's website. 'Second paragraph' The second line of text is where you provide a bit more background information about the character. Of course, though a reasonable amount of information is expected, please don't go writing up everything about the character; we are not an "everything wiki", so try to keep it condensed, but still informative. Kung Fu Man's story begins with himself and his girlfriend going for a walk. Sometime during this walk, they are ambushed by Suave Dude and his minions; of course, Kung Fu Man fends off Suave Dude's minions, though while he is preoccupied, Suave Dude captures Kung Fu Man's girlfriend and retreats back to his secret hideout. In order to get his girlfriend back, Kung Fu Man sets off for Suave Dude's hideout, letting nothing stand in his way (other than the fact that Elecbyte has yet to make the Suave Dude character). 'Third paragraph' Also known as the "In M.U.G.E.N..." piece of text, this is where you list who made versions of the character, what sprites/sounds they use and how they attack. When there are many creators, simply state that the character has been made several times, or something akin to that. In M.U.G.E.N, Kung Fu Man has been made four times by Elecbyte, the creators of M.U.G.E.N. All four versions are fundamentally the same, using simple attacks based around Chinese martial arts and presumably original sound effects; each version highlights some of the new features of an engine version that weren't present in previous versions, such as the third and fourth versions using localcoord, a feature introduced in M.U.G.E.N 1.0. Due to its nature as a template, many edits of Kung Fu Man exist that change its gameplay, moveset and/or even its name. Version sections The version sections are what link to the version branch-articles. The section header should be named "CREATOR's version", or in the case of a creator making more than one version of the same character, "CREATOR's first version", "CREATOR's second version", etc. Beneath that should be the character version's idle animation, followed by a brief summary about the character. Lastly, using the template, link to the branch article about the version the section is about. To better-elaborate on the brief summary, it should be a relatively short (about 2-4 lines), but you are permitted to write in an informal manner as long as you don't write personal opinions or in first-person (me, myself, I). In regards to what should be written, try to talk about sprite quality, source-accuracy (if applicable), interesting features, what's bad about it (if applicable), etc. Basically, you're trying to describe the character in a way that helps the reader decide whether they want to download it or not. A point raised when we were discussing the new article layout was how we were going to identify which versions had been edited or not, seeing as it would be inconvenient having to go through each and every version's branch-article just to see which ones were edited. As a result, we added a little template that wraps around the header text ( ) and not only allows for versions that have been edited to be flagged by placing a little "E" on the very end of the header line that links to that branch article's edits branch, but also a few other version-specific flags we wished to implement, such as NSFW material, profane language and seizurific animations. The template also allows editors to link to the Mugen Lab's articles, so instead of having a large template take up space underneath the header, we condensed it to a small gear icon that goes on the end of the header line. N64Mario's version Colonel William Guile...and combos; the greatest friends in the world devastate the opponent with ease. This Guile doesn't need to play defensively, instead preferring to get up-close and personal with the opponent using its easy to pull off combos and high damage output; that said, it can be configured to play like its less cheap Street Fighter Alpha 3 counterpart. HANBAHAN's version They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, though this tiger seems to have eaten breakfast all day. Being as obese as it is, Fat_Tony is rather sluggish and isn't particularly good at comboing, but what it lacks in speed and comboability, it certainly makes up for with sheer power. There seems to be a little bit of Sagat in this character. This creepy-looking humanoid Pikachu is quite the powerhouse, having an array of different moves that can be used to start powerful juggle combos or simply dish out massive amounts of damage on their own, though the unconventional button layout takes a while to get used to. Kick it into Overdrive to make juggling the opponent a breeze and then finish them off with a mighty Warlock Punch, providing you've got a maxed-out powerbar. Unlike many Josh Geary parody characters, Fosh Beary is perfectly capable of holding its own and doesn't go down in just a few hits. The majority of its moveset revolves around the use of lemons (particularly combustible ones), either through shooting them out of its Lemon Blaster or excreting them with excessive force. N64Mario's version Colonel William Guile...and combos; the greatest friends in the world devastate the opponent with ease. This Guile doesn't need to play defensively, instead preferring to get up-close and personal with the opponent using its easy to pull off combos and high damage output; that said, it can be configured to play like its less cheap Street Fighter Alpha 3 counterpart. HANBAHAN's version They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, though this tiger seems to have eaten breakfast all day. Being as obese as it is, Fat_Tony is rather sluggish and isn't particularly good at comboing, but what it lacks in speed and comboability, it certainly makes up for with sheer power. There seems to be a little bit of Sagat in this character. This creepy-looking humanoid Pikachu is quite the powerhouse, having an array of different moves that can be used to start powerful juggle combos or simply dish out massive amounts of damage on their own, though the unconventional button layout takes a while to get used to. Kick it into Overdrive to make juggling the opponent a breeze and then finish them off with a mighty Warlock Punch, providing you've got a maxed-out powerbar. Unlike many Josh Geary parody characters, Fosh Beary is perfectly capable of holding its own and doesn't go down in just a few hits. The majority of its moveset revolves around the use of lemons (particularly combustible ones), either through shooting them out of its Lemon Blaster or excreting them with excessive force. See also The See also section contains a list of articles relating to the character with a reason as to why they're related next to each entry. As shown here, the articles are linked to and put in bullet form, with the description written after a hyphen (-). Be aware that the list is not limited to characters, so stages can also be listed. See also *Suave Dude - Kung Fu Man's arch-nemesis *Evil Kung Fu Man - An evil clone of Kung Fu Man created by Suave Dude, supposedly defeated at the end of Kung Fu Man's Arcade mode story *Kung Fu Girl - A female variant of Kung Fu Man with her own powers and attacks *Kung Fu Man's Girlfriend - A non-playable character that briefly appears during Kung Fu Man's Arcade intro 'Categories' As with any other article, main character articles have their own set of categories, which can be all be found within this category. One category that applies to all character articles is Category:Characters, which should always be added. Closing notes Naturally, this is a guide on how to make character articles using the current article layout, but it does not necessarily explain what was removed/added with the new layout. For the original announcement blog regarding the layout change, please go here. Additionally, this article does not highlight some of the things editors get wrong/overlook when creating these sorts of articles, which is why this blog was created. Please go there, as it also goes over certain things that were missed in the original layout change blog. Category:Tutorials